Monday, December 12, 2011

On the Sixth Day of Christmas...

This is my first Swedish beer, so I was excited to try this one. However, since my Swedish is pretty weak, and there's no mention of Christmas on the bottle, I'm not totally sure this one is "technically" a Christmas beer. I'm taking a chance that the little dude in the red and white jester hat is implying Christmas. Google translator says narren means "the fool," and I'm going to guess that the Jul part of Julnarren might translate to Yule in English—although Google translator says Jul in Swedish means July. In any case I like the sound of Yule Fool, so I'm calling it close enough.

It pours a deep chestnut with amber highlights and almost not head at all—it's carbonated, but just barely. Its aroma reminds me of pipe tobacco—sweet and fruity with an alcoholic pungency. The flavor is interesting and it has soy sauce quality to it. Not inasmuch the same flavor as the Asian condiment, but a similar earthiness. It's not salty by any means, but it shares that same umami note. Believe me, I'm the first to say that umami is just horse shit made-up by an ad agency to sell soy sauce, but there's something to it here. It has some dark, stone fruit characteristics, with a smokey, burnt sugariness and some spiciness, but I'm not sure what spice that is—it's almost gin-like with a hint of juniper or spruce. While there's almost no hop flavor or bitterness, there is a mild roasted flavor. It's complex to say the least, and while both the name and beer are about as enigmatic as they come, I think I like the Yule Fool.